Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents found three small migrant children abandoned by human smugglers on a road near the Rio Grande. The discovery comes amid a surge of migrant crossings in the sector where officials report a near 250 percent increase in apprehensions in the first quarter of the new fiscal year.

Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens tweeted a photo of three small migrant children. Owens reported that agents found the three little Honduran girls (ages 3, 6, and 9) abandoned on a dirt road along the Rio Grande border with Mexico.

“No parents or guardians anywhere to be found…,” Owens stated. “Thankfully, we found them first. They are safe with us.”

During the first three weeks of January, the Del Rio Sector became the busiest of the nine southwest border sectors as they took more than 100,000 migrants into custody, a source working in U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Breitbart Texas.

During the month of December, Del Rio Sector agents took only 33,205 migrants into custody, according to the Southwest Land Border Encounters report released earlier this week. This included 771 unaccompanied minors like the three girls pictured above.

The January-to-date estimated apprehensions represent a more than 200 percent increase over the entire month of December.

Border Patrol agents in the nine southwest border sectors apprehended more than 170,000 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry in December, according to the Southwest Land Border Encounters report. In December 2021, including the last full month of the Trump administration, agents apprehended 71,141 migrants.

Agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector continued to lead the nation in apprehensions with 43,844 of the 170,186 total apprehensions (25 percent). This was an increase of nearly 155 percent over the previous year.

The Yuma Sector experienced the largest rate of growth with the apprehension of 29,469 migrants in December. This is up from only 1,203 one year earlier — an increase of 2,349 percent. This moved the Yuma Sector to the number three spot in terms of migrant apprehensions.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.

Randy Clark contributed to this report.